Ukrainian National Committee (Cracow)

Ukrainian National Committee (Cracow) (Ukrainskyi natsionalnyi komitet, or UNK). An administrative body formed in Cracow on the initiative of the OUN (Bandera faction) in an attempt to present a united Ukrainian national representation to the German occupying forces. A total of 113 people were individually selected from a range of political parties, community organizations, and economic firms for the association. As a nonpolitical institution the Ukrainian Central Committee decided not to join. At the inaugural meeting held on 22 June 1941 Gen Vsevolod Petriv was elected head of the committee in absentia, and Volodymyr Horbovy was chosen to be acting leader until Petriv's acceptance. Viktor Andriievsky was second deputy leader. The committee's secretaries were Stepan Shukhevych and Vasyl Mudry. The UNK sent a memorandum to Adolf Hitler in which it underscored the Ukrainian people's aspirations for independence and their readiness to fight against Moscow; at the same time it expressed the hope that Germany would respect the will of the Ukrainian people. It did not have a chance to develop any significant activity, because on 5 July the German security police arrested the nationalist organizers of the committee (M. Bohun, Horbovy, Yaroslav Rak, and Volodymyr Yaniv). Their action effectively abolished the group.